The present invention relates to services that empower patients to manage and analyze their health care data, and more particularly, to an online service that patients can use to analyze their medical expenses and associated records.
Managing medical expenses can be a daunting task for a patient. Several providers and insurance plans are typically involved in a patient's health care, so a patient must handle numerous provider and insurance statements. The possibility for error is increased by the large number of entities involved.
Health care providers and insurance providers have financial interests that are opposed to those of their patients. Health care providers use software tools to help determine how to increase revenues from the services they provide to their patients. Similarly, insurance companies use their resources to minimize the level of patient reimbursements that are made. While providers and insurers use significant resources to protect their interests and maximize their revenues, patients are often unable to ascertain what services they are paying for and whether those payments are being properly handled by their health care providers and insurance providers.
What is needed is a service to assist patients in managing their medical expenses.